GETTING AHEAD OF THE DEEP SECRETS STORY: Journalist Zach Dorfman, who has written for a variety of publications ranging from Politico to Rolling Stone, posted on X (formerly known as Twitter) that he has inked a deal with Crown publishers to write a book called Deep Cover: A Secret History. According to a publishing industry newsletter, the book is intended to be “an account of America's history of "non-official cover" spies, from the Cold War to the present day.” Those who engage in this kind of activity often take the job at “deep personal risk” because they operate without the benefit of diplomatic cover. No word on when the book will be out – but we imagine it’ll be a while – since Dorfman’s post on X trolled for those with deep cover stories to reach out and share their stories with him.
DEEP MISUNDERSTANDING: Utah Senator Mike Lee decided it would be a good idea to re-X an X post from the hacker, internet entrepreneur, and serial bad actor known as Kim Dotcom. Dotcom (or whatever his name is) has been trying to avoid extradition to the United States from New Zealand for over a decade. The U.S. Department of Justice has been trying to bring him to America to face charges of copyright infringement, money laundering, racketeering and wire fraud. In his recent X post, Dotcom alleges that an internet meme outfit called NAFO “North Atlantic Fella Organization” which has enjoyed mocking Russia and pro-Russian organizations since shortly after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine – is really a CIA-funded outfit. But Dotcom says the CIA has run out of money for NAFO and it is dead. Senator Lee took to X to say the U.S. government should never been allowed to funnel resources through a third party to support clandestine propaganda campaigns to influence public opinion among U.S. citizens. Neither Lee nor Dotcom provide any evidence that NAFO IS funded by the CIA…although the organization’s X page does list as their location: Langley, Virginia which (we’re going to go out on a limb here) might be a joke.
AMAZING GRACE: About six weeks ago, we told you about some folks from Muckrock.com who had been trying to get their hands on a 1982 lecture by computer pioneer Rear Admiral Grace Hopper in which she talked about future possibilities of data, hardware, software and people. Through a Freedom of Information request (FOIA), it was learned that ancient videotapes of the lecture existed – but NSA said it didn’t have the hardware to play the one-inch APEX format tapes. Well, we and others mocked them for the assertion that the 1982 technology was too hard for the NSA to crack. And low and behold – Muckrock happily reports that NSA found other parts of the government capable of converting the lecture to more modern formats. Hopper’s lecture (which comes in two parts) has now been posted on YouTube by NSA. We note that Hopper was actually a Navy captain at the time the lecture was given – but no doubt, it was good enough to get her promoted to flag rank.
IF NOT CONFIRMED: Not long ago, The Cipher Brief reviewed a book called If Confirmed by former senior Senate staffer Arnold Punaro about how screwed up the process is for getting officials confirmed for senior national security positions. To help drive home the point – there was a piece in Foreign Policy last week, noting that gridlock continues to hold up many important positions. For example – Robert Forden the nominee to be U.S. Ambassador to Cambodia has been in limbo for over two years. The nominee to be senior legal advisor in the State Department, Margaret Taylor, has been waiting more than 480 days. Nominees for other important posts are also stuck. For example, the person named to be U.S. envoy for Arctic affairs, Michael Sfraga, has had his nomination frozen for over 560 days. Sure sounds efficient to us.
WELL, THAT WOULD MAKE AN INTERESTING CONFIRMATION HEARING: The website SpyTalk reported last week, that some advisors to former President Trump have come up with an interesting idea: if Trump should win in November: make Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. the CIA Director. Donald Trump Jr. weighed in saying that RFK Jr. could head a “major three-letter agency” and “blow it up.” And retired Lt. General Michael Flynn who was (very briefly) Trump’s national security adviso wrote on X “Make him CIA director and we can finally learn exactly who killed his uncle, his dad, MLK Jr., Malcom X, etc. etc.” (BTW – we notice Flynn refers to himself on X as “General Mike Flynn” – a rank he never achieved, but why not, eh? Though, we suspect Master Sergeant Walz would like a word.) We’ve told you before about some of Bobby Jr.’s views on the CIA – such as saying that it controls the U.S. news media. Of course, everyone has the right to change their minds about things. Less than four months ago, Trump was posting on Truth Social that “RFK Jr. is a Democrat “Plant,” a Radical Left Liberal who’s been put in place in order to help crooked Joe Biden, the worst President in the History of the United States, get Re-Elected” and in a separate post, he called Kennedy: “the dumbest member of the Kennedy Clan.” RFK Jr. told Tucker Carlson this week that, yes, he would like to be CIA Director but: “I would never get Senate confirmation.” Naturally, he added a conspiracy theory: “As you know,” he told Carlson, “the intelligence agencies are protected by very, very powerful committees in the Senate and the House that are all read into the project, and the people who serve on those committees are people who would, you know, they would not – they’re safeguarding that directorship and I would be very, very dangerous for those committees.”
SO, YOU THINK IT IS TAKING A LONG TIME TO GET THE TRIALS OF 9-11 CONSPIRATORS STARTED AT GITMO? Well, yes – but that is nothing compared to a report we saw recently from the Islamic Republic News Agency – which said a hearing was just held in Tehran in a lawsuit filed against the United States for its role in the 1953 coup in Iran. Better late than never? Maybe not.
BOOK HIM: Nathan Thornsberry is not the first Marine veteran to shoot himself in the foot, but he found a pretty colorful way to do it. The 42-year-old Thornsberry reportedly self-published a book called January 6: A Patriot’s Story a couple of years ago about his exploits on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021. We’re not sure how strong sales were – but apparently the FBI got around to reading it and then arrested him on August 22nd on charges of assaulting law enforcement officials and other matters. The book is still available on Amazon. Interestingly, the paperback version is being sold under the pseudonym “Nathaniel Matthews” but the hardcover version of the same book lists “Liberty Justice” as the author. Apparently, Thornsberry is currently “at liberty” having been released on a $10,000 bond.
SHAMELESS (Self-promotion): A look at what’s happening behind-the-scenes at The Cipher Brief:
BUT WHO’S COUNTING: The Cipher Brief has added a countdown clock to the front page of the Brief counting down the days until The Cipher Brief Threat Conference October 5-8. Every year, more than 200 national security professionals from the public and private sectors roll up their sleeves for 3 days of engagement, exercises and sharing perspectives on threats from the government and private sector perspective. Have you reserved your seat at the table?
POCKET LITTER: Dead Droplets and bits and pieces of interesting / weird stuff we discovered:
WHAT’S IN A NAME? A lot of folks were surprised recently when the Washington football team (currently known as the Commanders) announced that their stadium in Maryland (formerly known as FEDEX Field) would now be known as Northwest Stadium following the Northwest Federal Credit Union buying the naming rights. The terms of the deal were not announced but were rumored to be around $8 million dollars a year. That’s a lot of scratch for a credit union most people have never heard of (until now, of course). And it is a bit odd that a stadium in (sort of) southern Maryland would be called “Northwest” (a name that might have been more appropriate for a sports facility in Seattle). There are rumors that NWFCU has deep ties to the U.S. intelligence community – and we can neither confirm nor deny that – but we note there are multiple declassified documents about NWFCU on the CIA’s online reading room. Maybe instead of the confusing Northwest name for the stadium – they could have just changed the name FEDEX Field – to EX FED Field.
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